Nokia Phablet Coming Soon

Nokia

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“Strike when the iron is hot” appears to be the idiom of the day for Nokia as reports hinted at the possible release of a Nokia phablet that will go up against similar large-display smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy Note.

An unidentified source revealed that the Finnish multinational company is aiming to enter the phablet market with a number of devices that are set to be released before the end of the year including the reported Nokia phablet. The source revealed that the device will be a smartphone/tablet hybrid similar to the device currently being offered by the South Korean company in the market.

In addition to the reported Nokia phablet, the company is also set to release a number of high-end smartphones within the year. This comes as the Nokia Lumia product lineup continues to struggle to increase its share of the market that is currently being dominated by iOS and Android devices.

One of these high-end devices will be the first Nokia Lumia smartphone featuring the Pureview technology of the company. It will come with a forty-megapixel camera and is set to be introduced by the company by July.  Another smartphone that is set to be released is an enhanced version of the Nokia Lumia 920 along with a low-cost model, which will be released by fall.

The company revealed that it was able to deliver around 5.6 million units of its Lumia smartphone in the first quarter, which is higher than the 4.4 million units it delivered in the fourth quarter last year. However, this is nowhere near to the shipments that its competitors have reported for their respective devices.

Apple revealed that it delivered around 37 million units of its iPhones last quarter while Samsung reportedly shipped over 61 million units in the same period.

The Finnish company anticipates a 27 percent increase in shipments for its Lumia smartphones during the present quarter. Despite the upcoming release of Nokia phablet and other high-end smartphones, the company will have to double its effort in order to get a good enough share of the market that is currently dominated by Samsung and Apple.

No Plans For MacBook/iPad Hybrid - Tim Cook

Apple

The recent earnings call of Apple saw Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, denying that the company was planning on producing a MacBook/iPad hybrid device.

According to Cook, convergence is possible for anything although it may result to some tradeoffs that may not be acceptable to the consumers. The question on the MacBook/iPad hybrid came up during the second quarter earnings call of Apple was raised by an analyst who inquired about the Windows 8 of Microsoft.

The dismissal by Cook on the supposed MacBook/iPad hybrid comes following the report that sales of iOS devices nearly reached 47 million units for the second fiscal quarter. In comparison Mac sales did not reach the expectations of analysts from Wall Street as it sold only around four million units.

The iPad and MacBook do not use the same platform and Apple does not plan to combine the two devices to product a MacBook/iPad hybrid.

The statements of Cook dismissing a MacBook/iPad hybrid come as the release preview for the Windows 8 is set to be unveiled near the start of June. The Windows 8 OS combines a touchscreen interface with the conventional Windows OS and is going to be called “Metro”.

Cook already dismissed any plans of combining touchscreen functionality into a MacBook in a February interview with the Wall Street Journal.

In dismissing any possibility of a MacBook/iPad hybrid, Cook indicated that previous efforts were made in combining such functions on desktops but no progress were made in such developments.